Kansas Frontman Ronnie Platt Guest On Rock Brigade

Kansas frontman Ronnie Platt was the featured guest on the latest Rock Brigade Podcast where he discussed his rise from cover-band vocalist, to Shooting Star vocalist to replacing Steve Walsh in the band Kansas and releasing their first album in nearly two decades titled The Prelude Implicit. The show sent over some excerpts:

On the Music Industry and the Kansas album The Prelude Implicit: "The music industry is a different animal these days. There are no record stores anymore. Even retail store music sections are a fraction of a fraction of what they used to be. Everybody downloads. I think two or three songs off of The Prelude Implicit were on YouTube before we even released the album. How did that happen?

"The music industry, as far as sales are concerned, is a different environment these days. For Kansas to be as lucky as we have been with this album�Wow. For a classic rock band from the '70s�what a gift. It was a gift for me to fall into this position. The sales of the album have been fantastic. Our label couldn't be happier and that is all that matters right there. When we were recording we'd hear the engineers going, 'This album is really good. There is no filler.' When you hear that around the corner and it is unsolicited then it is really flattering. We really put every ounce of heart and soul into every song and it is something we are really proud of.

"We also have the album out on vinyl. There is an etching of the phoenix on the cover on the [vinyl] album. When I show my friends how cool this looks they are like, "That is so cool I am going to buy that album." I say, "Do you have a turntable?" They say, "No, but this is too cool." It was a great marketing idea.

On Replacing Steve Walsh: I am up there taking the place of one of my lifelong idols, Steve Walsh. He is not only one of the best singers of all-time, but also one of the greatest keyboard players of all-time, and one of the greatest entertainers of all-time. I attribute my voice to listening to Steve Walsh and Steve Perry and Lou Gramm�The stress level and excitement level was off the charts for me when I did the first gig in Oklahoma�I was so nervous. In some respects it seems like yesterday and in other ways it feels like ten years from now.

"Lawrence Gowan who plays in STYX replaced Dennis DeYoung. They have this thing called Behind the Music on VH1. Talk about bad timing�right before my first gig with Kansas I happened to watch the episode on STYX. They are talking to Lawrence and he is saying that he was in the band a year and he would walk out on stage and people in the audience were going, "F*** YOU. WHERE IS DENNIS?" The guy is phenomenal. Is he Dennis? No, but he is phenomenal in his own right. Talk about a perfect fit for the band�he is great. I am watching this and I am like, "Oh my God, what have I gotten myself into? I am going to go out there taking Steve Walsh's place and they are going to stone me until there is nothing but a pile of bloody applesauce in the middle of the stage. The Kansas fans have been so overwhelmingly accepting of me. I thank my lucky stars for that." Check out the full espisode here.

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